And it surprised no one when it was announced that both of his contestants were safe from elimination. Both Danielle and The Swon Brothers are headed to the finals. Joining them will be the “crazy” Michelle Chamuel from Team Usher. So, that means Amber Carrington and Sasha Allen were the two contestants who were sent home last night.

“I just want doors to open so I can open doors for my kids.” The eliminated Sasha Allen said. “Determination is the engine that propels success in life.” Her coach Shakira told her. Meanwhile, Amber Carrington thanked her coach Adam Levine for being the only one who pressed his button when she auditioned, “Thank you for being the one button push that’s changed my entire life. I love you. Thank you so much.” she told her coach. Adam had some kind words for Amber as well, saying, “I think one of the best things about Amber is that she can do anything. I do believe in her ability to literally do whatever she wants.” he told the audience.

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However, after the incident, Stern made two things clear:

1. That he wanted to come back to the show and continue judging.
2. He doesn’t answer to anyone – that’s why they should keep him as a judge.

Stern said,

I don’t answer to anybody, Everybody knows that. That’s part of the game. And that’s why I’m a great f—ing judge. I will tell people if they suck.”

NBC’s president of alternative and late night programming, Paul Telegdy released a statement,

“Howard Stern’s towering presence and opinions on last season’s show, as a new judge, made a dramatic impact and added a sharper edge to the fascinating developments on stage.  We know that Howard believes in ‘America’s Got Talent’ — which remains America’s top-rated summer series — and that dedication comes across in a genuine way to our viewers, who share his passion about our amazing talent competition.”

While NBC was quick to announce Howard’s return, they have not mentioned anything about Nick Cannon or Howie Mandel.  Howie is said to be on the fence about doing another season, all signs are there for Cannon to return.

Sharon is not expected to come back at all.  She announced it loud and clear this summer as she accused NBC of discriminating against her son Jack by not letting him on the show “Stars Earn Stripes” because Jack has Multiple sclerosis.  NBC has repeatedly denied these allegations.

Auditions for the new season of America’s Got Talent have started already in preparation for the summer premiere.

No confirmation on how much Stern is making this season to judge the show, but we know last season NBC cut him a check somewhere between $15 and $20 million large.  That might have something to do with him being eager to return.

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The show is centered on a brother and sister who are split while looking for their uncle Miles.  Miles is also being hunted down by the new government.  It seems that 15 years earlier there was a global blackout and Miles might have the key to what caused it and how to cure it.  All technology has stopped, so imagine a land with no TV’s, no computers, and even cars fail to function.  Now imagine 15 years of the modern world living in these powerless conditions.  Now mix that with a J.J. Abrams “Lost” like spin, Eric Kripke, Billy  Burke and Tracy Spirakos as your supporting actors and you quickly see why NBC is excited about the project.

Billy Burke who stars as Uncle Miles, says that it will not have too many twists, turns and timeline jumps like other Abrams produced shows.  He is confident that the viewers won’t be confused by watching it,

“For some reason, all forms of energy and power go out. Fifteen years later, people are trying to get along and trying to figure out how to reconnect and how to form new societies without any of those benefits. We cut back and forth a little bit in time, but it’s all pretty linear and very easy to follow and highly entertaining.”

As a fan of “Person of Interest” and the recently cancelled “Alcatraz” (which I thought was still pretty damn good), I’m hoping Revolution is a hit.  The only thing that worries me is the Hunger Games like feel….Will it be too close to Hunger Games without being Hunger Games?  Time to watch and see…..Here it is on Hulu and NBC.

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After having a very successful first 2 seasons leveraging the fact that contestants are blindly chosen based solely on the sound of their voices, super reality show producer Mark Burnett is digging into his bag of tricks to make Season 3 even more entertaining.

Burnett along with the other judges, Adam Levine, Cee-Lo Green, Christina Aguilera and Blake Shelton held a press event at Burnett’s home in Malibu to announce the details.  There will be 2 new twists in Season 3.

THE STEAL

After the blind auditions you move on to the battle rounds, where singers on the same team, go head to head in a pairing performing a song chosen by their coach.  The loser of the round in past seasons goes home.  In Season 3, instead of going home, the loser will be offered up to the other judges before going home, giving them a chance to live for another day.

Burnett said that “The Steal” so far has been very successful,

“It worked better than we hoped, It’s been a very kind experience. We try to create a very kind experience on this show where people who deserve to stay, have a chance to stay.”

Last season this would have definitely made things interesting because two singers definitely left the competition way too soon after losing closely fought battle rounds.

Each coach will have two steals to use.  If more than one coach wants to steal a contestant, then the singer gets to make the selection, similar to the blind auditions.

Show Host Carson Daly says that this will keep fans engaged in all the players all the time, similar to fantasy football,

“In season three, the DNA of the show is the same, but for the battle rounds, the torso of this format, we need to make a couple tweaks, It’s like fantasy football. You become incentivized to watch the entire league as opposed as to your own team.”

 THE KNOCKOUT

After the battle rounds are over, comes the knockout.  Each team will have 10 members down from 16.  During this round the singers get to choose their own songs, but do not know who their opponents will be until the day of the show.  Once their opponents are selected they must sit in the corner of the stage while their opponent performs and the coach will then select the winner.  This gets each team down to 5 members before the live shows start.

Burnett is a master of reality TV and keeping audiences engaged.  As a fan of the show I suspect these enhancements will only increase not only the experience for the contestants and the viewers but also increase the drama amongst the judges.

Season 3 of “The Voice’ will air on Sept 10 at 8 PM on NBC

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After just two seasons, Tyler announced that he was no longer doing Idol.  He released a statement yesterday saying,

“After some long, hard thoughts, I’ve decided it’s time for me to let go of my mistress ‘American Idol’ before she boils my rabbit,”

“I strayed from my first love, Aerosmith, and I’m back. … The next few years are going to be dedicated to kicking some serious ass.”

This really isn’t a blow for the shows creator Simon Fuller, instead he sees it as a golden opportunity.  He expressed his understanding for Tyler wanting to get back to work stating,

 ”I completely understand his desire to get back to his life as the singer in America’s greatest-ever rock band.”

Let’s face it, Tyler is great but when he leaves fans of the show are still sticking around.

I think Fuller would be more concerned if J-lo left because she would be much harder to replace then Tyler and she would take some fans with her.  Just yesterday she had the internet all buzzing just because she said that she was unsure if she was returning to the show in January.  Lopez told NBC’s Today Show,

“I’ve just enjoyed it so much. But I am thinking that maybe it’s time for me to go and do other things that I really love to do… but then again, I really love the show!”

As we see with “America’s Got Talent”, “The Voice” and “The X Factor” the selection of judges can and will make or break the show.  Idol has a chance to replace 1 maybe 2.  If done right it can see ratings soar or if screwed up, it could mean disaster for the franchise.  Recent discussions have been around Adam Lambert as a potential judge, which in my opinion would be a huge mistake.  I say, pay Lopez whatever she needs to stay for at least 2 more seasons and bring in another legend like Maria Carey, or a male with personality and a huge following.

I wonder what Paula is doing these days.  This could get interesting.  Stay tuned.

[source]

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The moderately priced collection will launch this September and will include coats, tops, leggings, skirts – just about anything you can wear.  The price ranges from $50 to the most expensive piece priced at $170.  I guess moderately priced is accurate for once.

Tuesday night in The Sky Room of the New Museum in New York, Hudson gave onlookers a sneak peak at what she had to offer.  She will be launching with QVC by her side and she was beaming with pride as she unveiled some pieces from her collection.  Hudson stated,

I’m nervous and excited at the same time!

I hope the public embraces my line…it’s my baby.

I’ve been on both sides of the fence. I’ve been a big girl and now whatever this is, the average size, whatever you want to call it.

She was referring to her new size 6 figure.  I’m pretty sure that size 6 isn’t average in today’s world.  At least in the US.

Hudson’s line will launch on September 10^th with a QVC network one hour premiere in which she will present key pieces of the line herself.

This was a big week for Hudson, earlier we learned that she will have a recurring role on NBC’s “Smash”.  At age 30 Hudson is worth an estimated 15 million but we expect to see that number rise quickly in the next year.

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She negotiated a multi-episode deal similar to Sanchez where she will have a recurring role.  This will be Hudson’s first major project after the emotionally draining trial of the murder of her family.

“Smash” had a lot of hype surrounding it during its first season.  Although I think it was a solid effort, many critics disagreed and the show experienced drastic week to week declines in viewership.  Hudson’s name will add to the list of stars that both put out a solid effort but also command a certain high level of expectations.  She will be joining Katherine McPhee, Megan Hilty and to top it all off let’s not forget that the show is executive produced by Steven Spielberg.

Hudson will be playing a character by the name Veronica Moore.  As NBC’s Chairman of Entertainment, Robert Greenblatt describers her role,

“Her character will represent someone who reached their Broadway dream but also paid a price for it,”

Spielberg also added,

“First ‘Dreamgirls,’ now ‘Smash.’ I have no doubt Jennifer will continue to deliver even more inspiration to the audience responsible for giving us a second season on NBC,”

So the cycle continues.  Expectation for Season 2 increases as other huge changes were also made to the cast a few weeks back.  With Jennifer Hudson’s amazing talents this should be a win-win-win.  “Smash”,  Hudson and NBC should all come out on top.

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She is actually doing it the right way.  She is not following Sheree an producing her own designs, she is just allowing another company to use her name to promote their designs.  Therefore, there is literally no work needed by Nene herself, with the exception of approving the clothes that would be a part of the line.

Nene has just signed a licensing deal with Beanstalk who announced the new partnership during this year’s Licensing Expo 2012 going on right now in Las Vegas.

In a statement Beanstalk says, that their intention is to,

“leverage NeNe’s position in pop culture to offer consumers fashion-forward, affordable apparel and accessories, designed to empower women to walk into a room and ‘own it’ — like NeNe herself.”

The company’s President and CEO spoke highly of NeNe,

“While the fame of reality television characters is often short-lived and fleeting, NeNe Leakes has displayed versatility that has enabled her to transition from being a ‘Real Housewives’ personality to a featured television star on ‘Glee.’ NeNe’s mult-faceted personality and aspirational style will translate well into products that will emotionally connect with her fans.”

Just what does Nene’s empire consists of?

I would say not that much.  She is listed as being worth $4 million dollars which is not a lot.  Because it’s not a lot she will most likely continue to do The Real Housewives of Atlanta.  The show pays!  Besides this clothing line deal, the only other notable things that she has going are a few television appearances:

• She was able to land her role on “Glee” as Coach Roz Washington
• She’s has an upcoming role on NBC’s the New Normal, I’m very doubtful that it will be recurring.
• The Celebrity Apprentice, which is over.

Her main breadwinner is Housewives and looking at Nene’s and the other salaries, it’s no wonder why they do the show.  Nene rakes in over $1 Million dollars and is clearly the highest paid Housewife.  Then Kim, Sheree, Kandi with Phaedra and Cynthia in tow.  Here are the salaries below as reported earlier this year by Media Takeout

1.  NeNe Leakes – $750K per season, plus a $250K bonus for doing the reunion show
2. Kim – $600K per season plus a $150K bonus for doing the reunion show
3. Sheree – $550K per season plus a $150K bonus for doing the reunion show
4. Kandi – $450K per season plus a $100K bonus for doing the reunion show
5. Phaedra and Cynthia – $300K per season plus a $75K bonus for doing the reunion show
6. Marlo – $75K – she must be available for filming on request.
7. Peter (Cynthia’s husband) – $75K – he must be available for filming on request.
8. Kroy and Apollo – $50K – must be available for filming on request.

If I was Beanstalks president, Michael Stone, I would probably wait another season before tying my brand to Nene but then again I’m sure they got her on the cheap.

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Perry will also executive produce and has tapped Friends writer/producer Scott Silveri to assist.  So this is a solid project and a huge win for Williams.  If this pilot didn’t work out Williams also played Martin Lawrence’s son in his CBS Pilot.  He’s funnier as Martin’s son, but stands a better chance for longevity hitchin is trailer to Perry, NBC and the Friends crew.  Either way, Everybody LOVE’S Chris now!

(Except his name is Tyler, but you get the joke right….)<insert groan here>.

The post Everybody Hates Chris star, Tyler James Williams lands a new Gig in Matthew Perry’s new comedy Go On. appeared first on T.V.S.T..

JUST LIKE THE VOICE

When I say it’s just like the voice, it’s close enough for somebody to be suing somebody.  There will be 4 famous people who want to date.  They will have spinning chairs and there will be auditioning their love interests.  The promo spot aired During American Idol Wednesday night and did exactly what it intended to do, it got people talking.

HOW DOES THE SHOW WORK?

During the blind auditions, celebrities will hear the singles talk about themselves.   If the celebrities like what they hear they pull on the “Love handle” and spin around and come face to face with their potential date.

WHAT IF TWO CELEBS TURN AROUND?

Just like The Voice the power then switches to the potential date, where the celebrity must pitch themselves  for the date to choose.  Once each bachelor has three dates lined up they enter the “Speed Choice”.  Here each contestant has just seconds to convince the man to select her for the final round.

During the final round a question is given, the person that answers correctly gets to go on the date.

The celebrities have not yet been revealed but the host will be Cat Deeley.

The concept of the show came from Mike Darnell Fox’s “alternative series” president and producers A. Smith & Co.  There will be six one hour episodes starting June 7^th.  Five of the shows will be male celebrities and 1 show will be female celebrities.  Here is he spot that ran during Idol below.

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